Conveyors



July 7, 1964 c. F. RIVERS 3,139,973

CONVEYORS Filed Feb. 26, 196 2 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG-I H INVENTOR.

CHARLES E RIVERS BY W ATTORNEY.

July 7, 1964 Filed Feb. 26, 1962 C. F. RIVERS CONVEYORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2mvBNToR.

CHARLES E RIVERS ATTORNEW July 7, 1964 c. F. RIVERS CONVEYORS Filed Feb.26, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.

CHARLES E RIVERS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,139,973 CONVEYORSCharles F. Rivers, 15375 Stahelin Blvd., Detroit 26, Mich. Filed Feb.26, 1962, Ser. No. 175,499 3 Claims. (Cl. 198218) This invention relatesto conveyors and particularly to conveyors employing a plurality ofelevators to lift workpieces successively from one lever to another,while reciprocably travelling in an up and down direction.

An object of the invention is to provide a supporting structure, and aplurality of elevators, each supported by the structure for travelbetween a lower, loading position and an upper discharge position, andto further provide workpiece carriers for each elevator, and to adaptthe structure to afford a gravitationally induced loading of saidcarriers on their respective lower positions, and discharge in theirupper positions.

Another object of the invention is to provide a first carrier, withelongated side members, so confining the workpieces therebetween as toresist jamming of workpieces between the carrier and the structure.

Another object is to provide a second carrier in the form of anopen-topped, open-ended receptacle, and to provide a pivot element aboutthe axis of which the carrier swings to discharge workpieces when itselevator is in its upper position.

These and various other objects are attained by the constructionhereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partial side elevational view of the construction.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an upward continuation of the construction asseen in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the construction on the line 33of FIG. 6, the two elevators being shown in their lowermost position.

FIG. 4 is a view showing an upward continuation of the construction asseen in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the invention as seen on line 55 of FIG.3.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view on line 6-6 of FIG. 3.

In these views, the reference character 1 designates the elongatedsupporting structure or frame generally. Such structure is inclined fromfront to rear in an upward direction at a substantial angle to thehorizontal and includes elongated longitudinal members 2, joined bystruts 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. The longitudinal members are further,laterally interconnected by cross members 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,17, and 18. As may be seen by reference to the drawings, these membersare illustrated as being formed of angle iron. Obviously, any other formmay be used which will impart sufiicient strength and rigidity to thestructure. The various members comprising the structure may be securedat appropriate points by any conventional method, such as welding.

Spaced apart within this framework, are parallel side walls 19 and 20,rigidly maintained in their positions by welding or otherwise securingthem to the framework. Rails 21 and 22 are fixed to each sidewall tosupport and guide an elevator 23. Preferably the rails are mounted toeach sidewall by bolts and nuts (not shown). This affords readyreplacement of the rails if they become excessively worn.

The elevator 23 may be constructed of parallel elonice gated channelmembers 23a, joined in any suitable manner by ribs 25. A plate 26 ismounted to the frame thus formed. Said plate is preferably secured tothe frame by nuts and bolts (not shown) or the like for more easyreplacement when the plate becomes worn. At the sides of the elevator,runners 23b are secured as by welding to ride upon the rails 21, 22 insliding travel. A rearwardly sloping lifting plate or platform 27 isrigidly mounted at the upper end of the elevator. From each side of thelifting plate a guard member 28 rigidly extends upwardly. When theelevator 23 is in its lower position, the guard members rest asubstantial portion of their length on a plate 24. Rails formed bychannel members 29 rigidly secured in any desired manner to eachsidewall, support said guard members when the elevator 23 is in a raisedposition.

Ribs 30 extend rigidly transversely of the structure, and the plate 24is preferably removably secured to said ribs as by nuts and bolts (notshown), to facilitate replacement of said plate when excessively worn byoperation of the machine. The ribs also space from the plate 24 anotherplate 31, which may be rigidly secured to said ribs in any desiredmanner. The uppermost rib 33 is adapted to form a rearwardly slopingmetering shelf or platform, the purpose of which is explainedhereinafter.

Spaced rails 35, 36 are aflixed to sidewalls in a manner similar to theaforesaid rails 21, 22, and serve to support the second elevator 37.This elevator, too, has a plate 38 rigidly and removably secured to sidemembers 37a and ribs 39, as by nuts and bolts (not shown). At its upperend the elevator 37 mounts a carrier on a pivot element 40. The carrieris formed with spaced sidewalls 41, back wall 42, and bottom wall 43, tocreate a receptacle which is open at the upper end and at the front. Thebottom wall 43 provides a rearwardly sloping platform for the elevator37. Elements 44 on the elevator and 45 on the carrier impose a positivelimitation on the swing of the carrier toward the elevator. Runners 37bwelded or otherwise fastened to the elevator 37 run on said rails 35,36.

The back wall 42 of the carrier rests slidably upon a supporting plate46, removably secured, as by nuts and bolts (not shown) to cross members47 extending rigidly between the sidewalls in the upper portion of thestructure. Elongated angle irons 48 welded to the sidewalls 19, 20,support the lateral edges of the plate 46. Welded or otherwise securedto the upper edge of the plate 46 an angle iron has a flange 49 beneaththe plane of the bottom wall of a discharge chute 50 at the rear of thestructure 1. Any form of supporting means, such as the illustrateduprights 51, may be used to uphold the structure.

A mounting plate 52 may be welded or otherwise affixed to the lowerlongitudinal members 2. Such plate is appropriately prepared to mount areversible drive electric motor 53 to drive a speed reducer 54 of aconventional construction. Preferably these last two elements areremovably mounted by nuts and bolts. (The elements described in thisparagraph are omitted from FIG. 5, as to depict them in this view wouldserve no purpose.)

A shaft of the speed reducer carries a sprocket 55. A shaft 56 extendsthrough the structure and has its end portions protruding from bothsides thereof, and journaled in bearings 57. A sprocket 58 on one end ofsaid shaft mounts a chain 59, jointly with the sprocket 55 of the speedreducer, whereby a drive is transmitted from the speed reducer to theshaft 56. Between the sidewalls rigidly mounted on the shaft, andaxially spaced thereon, are pinions 60. The teeth of said pinions are inengagement with the teeth of rack gears 61. The rack gears are mountedto the elevator 37 as by nuts and bolts (not shown).

A sprocket 62 is mounted on the other end of the shaft 56. In the lowerportion of the structure a second shaft 63 journaled in bearings 64extends through the structure. Such shaft mounts, and is driven by, asprocket 65. A chain 66 carried by sprockets 65 and 62 transmits suchdrive from shaft 56. Said drive is then transmitted by pinions fixedrigidly on shaft 63 through rack gears 68 to move the elevator 23. Therack gears are secured to said elevator 23 by means of nuts and bolts(not shown).

As best seen in FIG. 3, a hopper 69 at the front of the structure 1, orother means, may be used to supply workpieces to be conveyed upwardly bythe conveyor. A downwardly bent extension 70 of the bottom wall of thehopper projects between the side walls, and has its edge in such closeproximity to the surface of plate 26 of elevator 23 as to preventdownward escape of the hopper contents.

Operation A proposed method of operation is that both elevators shallrise and descend at the same time. Thus, with both elevators in theirrespective lower positions, part of the hopper contents may slide ontothe lifting plate 27, such sliding being then stopped by plate 24 of thesupporting structure. When the reversible motor 53 operates, and theelevators rise, the lifting plate 27 carries upwardly a quantity of thehopper contents deposited thereon. During such upward travel, the plate24 restrains the workpieces from falling off the elevator in thedirection of said plate. The upwardly extending guard members 28 confinethe workpieces therebetween, and thus resist any tendency of such piecesto jam between the lifting plate 27 and the sidewalls of thestructure 1. The plate 26 on the elevator 23 prevents any furthersliding of the hopper contents until the elevators descend.

When the elevators reach their respective upper positions the workpieceslifted by the plate 27 are influenced by gravity to slide upon theplatform 33. This sliding is halted by the plate 38 on elevator 37,until the elevators have descended.

In the construction as illustrated, elevator 37 moves approximatelytwice the distance of elevator 23. Therefore sprocket 65 is sufficientlylarger than sprocket 62 to afford the required difference in speed oftravel of the elevators.

When both elevators reach their lower positions, the lifting platereceives a gravitationally induced load of workpieces, as aforesaid,while the load previously carried up by said plate and left on theplatform 33 slides into the receptacle 41, 42, 43. When the elevatorsare again in their upper positions, the receptacle has moved upwardlycompletely off the plate 46, which plate supports said receptacle in itstravel. Thus the receptacle is allowed to swing about the axis of pivotelement 40 to discharge its contents into the chute 50. The flange 49and the bottom wall of the chute limit this downward swinging of thereceptacle. From the chute the workpieces may be conducted as desiredfor whatever purpose required their elevation.

Obviously, the drive of the motor must be stopped as the elevators moveinto their upper and lower positions, and such drive must be reversed inorder to move the elevators from one position to the other. A manuallyoperated switch installed in the electrical circuit of the motor 53could afford this desired control. However, a more practical and certainmethod, it is readily apparent, is the use of switches disposed in thepath of one or both of the elevators to be mechanically operated by suchelevators at opposite limits of their paths of travel to temporarilybreak the circuit of the motor.

It is proposed to incorporate a timing device to provide a desired haltof the drive, and leave the motor turned off for a predetermined period,to allow adequate time for loading and unloading of the carriers. Suchdevice may preferably be adjustable, thus affording control over thenumber of loads delivered by the elevator during a given time period.Such control being effected by altering the period of inaction at eachlimit of elevator travel.

The angle of inclination of the structure of the elevators may differconsiderably from that shown in the drawings. A vertical position may beused with plate 27 and platform 33 canted at an angle to inducegravitational discharge of workpieces. A substantially lesser degree ofinclination may suffice to impart gravitationally induced sliding to theworkpieces, to load the carriers. Thus a great measure of flexibility isafforded in the uses to which the device may be put. It should he noted,that the construction tends to cause the carriers to lift their loads,rather than merely shove or push them. To ensure that the receptacle 41,42, 43 tips about its axis, a bar 71 is secured to a sidewall andextends outwardly sulficiently to engage the leading edge portion of asidewall 41.

What I claim is:

1. A device for elevating workpieces comprising an elongated supportingframe extending upwardly at a substantial angle to the horizontal, saidframe having a first guideway adjacent the front of said frame extendinglengthwise thereof, said frame having a second guideway spacedrearwardly of and parallel to said first guideway, a first elevatormovable in said first guideway from a lower charging position to anupper position, said first elevator having a rearwardly sloping liftingplatform, a rearwardly sloping metering shelf fixed to said framebetween said guideways in a position so as to be at the rear andapproximately at the elevation of said lifting platform in the upperposition of said first elevator to receive workpieces therefrom bygravity, a second elevator movable in said second guideway from a lowerposition to an upper discharging position, said second elevator having arearwardly sloping lifting platform, the lifting platform of said secondelevator, in the lower position of the latter, being at the rear andapproximately at the elevation of said metering shelf to receiveworkpieces therefrom by gravity, means at the front of said frame fordelivering workpieces to the lifting platform of said first elevator inthe lower leading position of the later, means at the rear of said framefor conveying away workpieces discharging by the lifting platform ofsaid second elevator in the upper discharging position of the latter,and means for moving said elevators between their respective upper andlower positions, said means for moving said elevators being operative tomove said second elevator through a substantially greater stroke thansaid first elevator.

2. The device defined in claim 1, wherein said second elevator has acarrier, said carrier having a bottom wall providing the liftingplatform of said second elevator and having a back wall, side walls, anopen front and an open top, said carrier being pivoted to said secondelevator about a transverse axis, guide means holding said carrierupright so that the lifting platform provided by said bottom wall ofsaid carrier slopes rearwardly as aforesaid from the lower position ofsaid second elevator to a point close to the upper discharge positionthereof, said carrier being rearwardly swingable about said pivot bygravity in the upper position of said second elevator to a dischargeposition in which its back wall slopes rearwardly to effect a dischargeof workpieces by gravity through the open top of said carrier.

3. The device defined in claim 1, wherein said second elevator has acarrier, said carrier having a bottom wall providing the liftingplatform of said second elevator and having a back wall, side walls, anopen front and an open top, said carrier being pivoted to said secondelevator about a transverse axis, guide means holding said carrierupright so that the lifting platform provided by said bottom wall ofsaid carrier slopes rearwardly as aforesaid from the lower position ofsaid second elevator to a point close to the upper discharge positionthereof, and means responsive to movement of said second elevator to itsupper position for swinging said carrier rearwardly about said pivot toa discharge position in which the back wall of said carrier slopesrearwardly to effect a dis- References Cited in the file of this patentUNITED STATES PATENTS Newman Apr. 2, 1895 Kevlin Sept. 5, 1922 KronqvistDec. 25, 1928 Lawlor Sept. 10, 1935 Kaufmann Jan. 2, 1962 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION July 7, 1964 Patent Noe3,139,973

Charles Fe Rivers It is hereby certified that error appears in the abovenumbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patentshould read as corrected below.

Column 4, line 50, for "leading" read loading line 51 for "later" readlatter line 52, for "discharging" read discharged Signed and sealed this8th day of December 1964.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD J. BRENNER ERNEST W. SWIDER' Commissioner of Patents AttestingOfficer

1. A DEVICE FOR ELEVATING WORKPIECES COMPRISING AN ELONGATED SUPPORTINGFRAME EXTENDING UPWARDLY AT A SUBSTANTIAL ANGLE TO THE HORIZONTAL, SAIDFRAME HAVING A FIRST GUIDEWAY ADJACENT THE FRONT OF SAID FRAME EXTENDINGLENGTHWISE THEREOF, SAID FRAME HAVING A SECOND GUIDEWAY SPACEDREARWARDLY OF AND PARALLEL TO SAID FIRST GUIDEWAY, A FIRST ELEVATORMOVABLE IN SAID FIRST GUIDEWAY FROM A LOWER CHARGING POSITION TO ANUPPER POSITION, SAID FIRST ELEVATOR HAVING A REARWARDLY SLOPING LIFTINGPLATFORM, A REARWARDLY SLOPING METERING SHELF FIXED TO SAID FRAMEBETWEEN SAID GUIDEWAYS IN A POSITION SO AS TO BE AT THE REAR ANDAPPROXIMATELY AT THE ELEVATION OF SAID LIFTING PLATFORM IN THE UPPERPOSITION OF SAID FIRST ELEVATOR TO RECEIVE WORKPIECES THEREFROM BYGRAVITY, A SECOND ELEVATOR MOVABLE IN SAID SECOND GUIDEWAY FROM A LOWERPOSITION TO AN UPPER DISCHARGING POSITION, SAID SECOND ELEVATOR HAVING AREARWARDLY SLOPING LIFTING PLATFORM, THE LIFTING PLATFORM OF SAID SECONDELEVATOR, IN THE LOWER POSITION OF THE LATTER, BEING AT THE REAR ANDAPPROXIMATELY AT THE ELEVATION OF SAID METERING SHELF TO RECEIVEWORKPIECES THEREFROM BY GRAVITY, MEANS AT THE FRONT OF SAID FRAME FORDELIVERING WORKPIECES TO THE LIFTING PLATFORM OF SAID FIRST ELEVATOR INTHE LOWER LEADING POSITION OF THE LATER, MEANS AT THE REAR OF SAID FRAMEFOR CONVEYING AWAY WORKPIECES DISCHARGING BY THE LIFTING PLATFORM OFSAID SECOND ELEVATOR IN THE UPPER DISCHARGING POSITION OF THE LATTER,AND MEANS FOR MOVING SAID ELEVATORS BETWEEN THEIR RESPECTIVE UPPER ANDLOWER POSITIONS, SAID MEANS FOR MOVING SAID ELEVATORS BEING OPERATIVE TOMOVE SAID SECOND ELEVATOR THROUGH A SUBSTANTIALLY GREATER STROKE THANSAID FIRST ELEVATOR.